On 29 March 2019 Île-de-France Mobilités and RATP Dev launched three electric buses on the SQYBUS network in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines – a first for the outer suburbs.
As a continuation of the sustainable mobility development objectives set by Île-de-France Mobilités, RATP Group will run the first three 100% electric buses made by Heuliez on the SQYBUS network, the largest RATP Dev bus subsidiary in the Paris region.
The electric buses are recharged at night at the Trappes bus operations centre, which was specifically equipped to house them. The buses have a range of 250 km and can transport up to 85 passengers.
The buses are silent as far as passengers and locals are concerned and are already running, primarily on lines in Maurepas-Elancourt which were restructured in September.
According to Valérie Pécresse, president of the Île-de-France regional authority and of Île-de-France Mobilités:
“My ambition is to fully equip this dense part of our network with clean vehicles by 2025 (Paris, inner suburban towns and major conurbations in the outer suburbs). The entire region will be equipped by 2030. This is a major public health issue and a major industrial one in line with our aim to make the Greater Paris region an attractive and ecological metropolis.”
For Christophe Vacheron, greater Paris regional director at RATP Dev, “the entry into service of these first three clean vehicles on the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines network is a first in the outer suburbs for RATP Dev. It allows us to test the technology under real-life conditions.”
The launch is part of an approach pursued by RATP and Île-de-France Mobilités in their sweeping technological and ecological development aiming to ensure an increasingly clean fleet in the greater Paris region.
The Group already runs nearly 900 hybrid buses, 55 electric buses and 140 natural gas-fuelled buses in several towns and cities in France and internationally including two entirely electric lines in London.